The Great Divide

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.  And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.  

Ephesians 1:22-23

I love All-Saints Day.  Some might imagine it a little morose to dwell on memories of the saints who have passed, but I cannot help it; I need to be reminded that the Great Divide from earthly life, into the  heavenly realm, is as transitory as it gets.  Of course we know that heaven is forever, but that’s just the point-for a Christian!  The “divide” is only an illusion, like the picture of a river’s divide – it is fed by one source, and both branches flow to the same end…a reunion.  And it is still the same river, even if one cannot see the other.  The confluence, coming together again is that Great Judgment time, when Christ shall gather all into the fold.  This is the promise of God, and we are His inheritance, bound for the Kingdom.

And so, for today, All Saints are remembered as ONE, that huge cloud of witnesses[1], Paul described, surrounding us, encouraging us to that great getting-up day, when Christ shall come again.

There is one sadness in this fact of our eternal inheritance – some are disinheriting themselves.  In Holy Scripture we are told of a great book, the Book of Life.  Many believe it is only for the names of those people who receive Christ’s gift of grace in salvation.  And that is true in one sense.  But there is a verse in Revelation that makes me uncomfortable with that view as exclusive :

All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.  Revelation 3:5

This verse suggests to me that every human soul’s name was written in the book before time began, and it is only in failing to kneel at the cross, in surrender to the grace offered there, which causes Christ to blot-out the name from the record.  That may sound like slicing hairs a little thin in the theology class, but it is consistent with a God who universally-loves everyone – PERFECTLY, so perfectly He sent his only son, Jesus, to die, and be raised from the grave, to offer freely the grace that saves a soul.  It tells us grace is offered, but must be accepted if our names are to remain in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

The confluence of life’s river, where once-again the body will be together is an offer of grace, God’s good, loving arms, extended wide towards each soul.  For those you have “lost” are not so, they are waiting for that time when Christ gathers the river back together.

For You Today

The cross is the great divide of history and eternity.  Paul reminds us to examine our lives to see if we’re truly in the faith[2].  When the divide between the living and dead is removed in the final judgment day, it will no longer be an illusion that separates[3] those whose names remain in the Book, and those blotted-out.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions libraryI.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Looking for a Place to Hide   and   Lenten Walk - Part 17

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Hebrews 12:1

[2] 2 Corinthians 13:5

[3] Matthew 25:32

Looking for a Place to Hide

 

Monday, August 17, 2020

From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help.  Hear my cry, O Lord.  Pay attention to my prayer.  Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?  But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.  I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him.  I have put my hope in his word.  I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.  O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love.  His redemption overflows.  He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.  Psalm 130:1-8

I can recall with vivid accuracy that anxiety, being on-edge, and the feeling of nervous forebode in the pit of my stomach; the preacher was talking about that book – the one where God records all our sins.  And he went on and on about it, picking at every-last-thing I’d ever done wrong.  And then he said if I wanted to make it into the other book, that one where the saved people have their names written, I’d better change – it was time to decide. 

That preacher hardly knew me, but, then again, he did.  He was speaking about the universal condition of human fallenness.  Every person has a sin nature, and we succumb to temptation in one way or another.  My sins may not have been the same as yours, but they are mine, nonetheless.  And that preacher knew it!  And I was definitely looking for a place to hide!

And then, along comes Solomon to back up the preacher’s argument, and then, blow it up in the next breath.  Solomon points to the most devastating (and annoying) truth in human existence – God keeps a record of our sins.

Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?  Psalm 130:3

I don’t know how God could be God unless he was aware of everything.  My sins are not hidden from Him…and neither are yours.  Something deep within each of us tells us there is nothing we can truly bury so deep as to hide it from God.

But I also mentioned that in Solomon’s next stroke of the pen he blew up the whole judgment thing:

But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.  Psalm 130:4

In just two sentences that take just 8 seconds to read aloud Solomon, the wisest man to ever draw breath covers the most important reality in the universe:  We have all sinned and are guilty before God…and God has already decided to forgive us.

That other book…the one where the saved people have their names written…your name is already in that book.  According to the Book of Revelation names are written in the Book of Life, and only erased if there is no forgiveness for sins.  But, for those who trust in the victory of Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross was for our forgiveness, those names are not erased, but proclaimed innocent in heaven!

All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.  Revelation 3:5

So, the good news in that uncomfortable truth the preacher was laying on my 10-year-old self, about how if I wanted to escape the flames of hell and get my name in Jesus’ book…he was right about my guilt, but he should’ve told me my name was already in Jesus’ book, written in blood. 

For You Today

God knew each of us before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs.  He had written our name in His eternal book.  And with each entry the mind and heart of God uttered that familiar word we see in Scripture, Come! 

For you and me that is the sweetest word our souls could ever hear.  It means we don’t have to look for a place to hide, now, or ever.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Psalm 130 see Night Waiting and What the Angel Said